Drag City presents the third charming excursion into spontaneous rhythm creation from three masters of collaborative improvisation The third time's the charm - or perhaps, more accurately, the third time's another charming excursion into the seemingly infinite universe of rhythm spontaneously created whenever guitarist Oren Ambarchi, bassist Johan Berthling, and percussionist Andreas Werliin plug in together. Several years into their collaborative endeavor, and a little more than a year on from Ghosted II, this remarkable trio returns with Ghosted III, constituting fresh developments of their sound while maintaining the constancy that has produced such stimulating variations of tone and mood within their established format.

The sound of this trio has been all about new developments since they first started playing together - something to be simply expected when dropping the tonearm on any of their records, which is a very nice thing indeed. There's also something to be said for constancy, especially when it produces such remarkable results. Since there wasn't anything broke, there was no need to fix it. Instead, just do it again - but better. With that credo, Ambarchi, Berthling and Werliin returned to Stockholm's Studio Rymden to continue the incredible standard of capture that distinguished both Ghosted and Ghosted II. Although they took more studio time than ever before (three whole days!), Ghosted III's most significant development is an increased immediacy in their performances - something a little looser and wilder than their first two albums, no doubt developed through their encounters during the several dozen-plus gigs played since their debut.

Their ability to lock in and focus, hanging on to the smallest of details, is here enhanced by an expansive lightness of being. Such potentially polar skill sets could well make for uneven chemistry, but in the hands of these three masters, a sparkling variety of new jams occurs. They seem available to try anything these days, at times playing with the exuberance of prog-rockers or new-wave popsters, alongside the eternal energies of their established styles: ambient neo-jazz, postkraut, minimal funk. In the end, their shared instinct shapes the varied emissions into structures reaching ever further into the ether, giving Ghosted III a singular quality belonging only to the trio that is Ambarchi, Berthling and Werliin. This is improvised music at its most telepathic and adventurous - three musicians who have found something genuinely special together and continue to push it into new territories with each encounter.